The invention relates to a central-lubrication assembly for vehicles, with a lubricant reservoir, with a lubricant pump, with a drive motor for the lubricant pump and with a pressure-relief valve for lubricant distributors to be connected and designed as post-lubricating distributors, the lubricant pump, its drive motor and a valve block receiving the pressure-relief valve being accommodated in a closed housing.
German Auslegeschrift 1,184,659 makes known a central-lubrication assembly of the foregoing type, in which the lubricant pump is designed as a submerged pump and is arranged, together with the pressure-relief valve and a pressure-limiting valve, in the lubricant reservoir which therefore here forms part of the housing. Above the lubricant reservoir, the drive motor connected to a control unit and intended for the lubricant pump is arranged, protected by a cowl, in a housing part shut off from the lubricant reservoir. Pipelines lead from the lubricant pump to lubricant distributors located at various points of the vehicle. The known assembly works satisfactorily and, because of its large-volume lubricant reservoir, is unrestrictedly suitable for installation in vehicles in which a large number of lubricating points are to be supplied with fluid grease. In smaller vehicles not normally used by professional drivers, however, the handling and maintenance leave much to be desired, insofar as the refilling of the lubricant reservoir makes it necessary to separate it from the lubrication assembly, this not only being complicated, but also entailing the risk of soiling.